New figures show the number of children caught up in legal battles between
separating or divorcing parents jumped by 27 per cent last month and is
currently running at almost twice the level seen two years ago.

Cafcass, the agency which looks after children's interests in the family
courts, said that it received 5,061 new cases involving family splits in
England in May, by far the highest ever seen in a single month.

It has piled new pressure on the agency, which has been already severely
stretched by a separate dramatic rise in the number of children being taken
into care in the wake of the Baby P scandal four years ago.

The surge in demand for it to be involved in so-called “private law” cases
follows the removal of legal aid for couples in most divorce cases.

Under changes which came into effect on April 1 this year, an estimated
200,000 people a year who would have been able to get legal aid in divorce
and child contact cases no longer qualify.